Rosary

I realize it's a bit cliche to say that as the mom of a little guy, I'm kind of strapped for time.  But I never considered before how this would affect the different aspects of my daily life.

For example:

• Showering everyday is a luxury now.  Some weeks I go every other day because I would rather nap or go to bed a few minutes early than shower.
• Cleaning mostly happens when the little guy is asleep.
• Writing is a sometimes activity now.
• It takes me about a week to say one Rosary.

I really didn't see that last one coming and it is really difficult to handle.  I love my Rosary.  I love to contemplate the mysteries and feel very much in touch with Our Lady and her Blessed Son.  But what I've noticed: it's kind of a long prayer.  And when I have 20 minutes at a time together, I have trouble disciplining myself to say my Rosary instead of relax and watch Netflix or do the dishes.  (I've tried saying my Rosary while I do dishes...it's a no-go, I always loose my place.)

So, these days, I say about one or two decades a day and after a completed Rosary, I take a couple days before I start the next one.  This is one of those difficult parts of motherhood that no one anticipates.

It's not that I don't pray or I have somehow become less prayerful.  We have created a special bedtime prayer routine for Elijah and I say morning prayers while he has his bottle or cereal.  I love to take him to Mass and have that time as well.

But I miss my Rosary.

A little cold

I don't know why, but hearing the pediatrician say Elijah "just has a bad cold" feels worse than if he had said "it's an ear infection" or something else that can be effectively medicated away.

This is about the 6th cold this year.  The last one was a couple weeks ago and did not last long and we didn't even bother the pediatrician.  But this time, it felt like when he was sick in March with bronchiolitis. 

We put him to bed last night and he kept waking up, very congested and cranky.  So, I moved him into the swing that is in his room.  It worked for a couple hours.  But when I went to bed he was awake and coughing and sneezing.  That began a two hour dance of holding him, cuddling him, putting him back in the swing and listening as he screamed his lungs out as I walked back to our room. 

Eventually I held him on my chest while Nathan slept.  But all Elijah did was lay there and scratch my arms and chest for about an hour before I put him back in the swing.  He gave the swing another shot and we all got  a couple hours of sleep. 

The pediatrician assures me it's just a cold, but I'm still a little afraid there is an underlying cause to all these colds.  Something more than, he's a baby and all babies get sick a lot.

Just for Fun

I know this video has been making the rounds on Catholic blogs lately and I'm behind.  But I don't care.  I still love it.



This was posted by my uncle a few days ago and I giggled hysterically the first time I heard it.  It's called the "Mostly German Philosophers Love Song." The lyrics can be a little confusing so I posted them below.

The Mostly German Philosophers Love Song
J. Boor
Released 16 November 2012

Hegel, I Goethe Goethe have ya,
'Cause I Nietzsche, Nietzsche, Nietzsche
So bad.

I'd like to Leibniz the stars with you.
But I know you'd Schopenhauer late, like you always do.

So I say, Hegel ...

Heidegger lovely ways, she's got all I want.
And I'd like to Hess some of her goodness, but I Kant.

So I say, Hegel ...

Spinoza long since I have seen your face.
And so be-Feuerbach I shall not leave this place.

But I say, Hegel ...

I Gadamer-ciful reply from her.
But as to Husserl-ove, I cannot say for sure.

So, I say, Hegel ...

Well I don't Kierkegaard my heart with all my strength.
But now I've been in such a Ficht(e) for such a length.
And I don't know if my Wittgenstein to sing this lonely song.
That's why Einstein away from you from now on.

But I say, Hegel ...

A Visit from St. Nicholas

St. Nicholas visited our house last night in honor of his feast day today.  Like many mostly German Catholic families, when I was growing up, St. Nicholas would leave candy and a small toy in our stockings on the night before his feast day.  This was a tradition my mother carried to us from her own childhood.  But we never did talk about the historical St. Nicholas.

So it's only in the last few years that I've learned, mostly from friends, that St. Nicholas was the Bishop of Myra (in modern Turkey) who, amongst other things, anonymously gave money to keep a poor man's daughters out of a life of prostitution.  He also punched out a heretic at the Council of Nicea.  The Church honors him as the patron saint of children.

So this morning we found a Christmas sleeper and book The Stable in Bethlehem in Elijah's  stocking. I feel St. Nick may have overdone it this year.  But, how do you give an infant candy?  However, he did provide circus peanuts for Daddy while Mama got two kinds of gummies.

I think we may have to continue the tradition of Christmas books on St. Nicholas Day.  It seems like a good way to incorporate him into Advent even more.  But maybe he will pair it with candy next year.

Twitter

The Holy Father has arrived...on Twitter.

Which means, I'm not ashamed to say, he got there before me.  I've never really gotten the point of Twitter.  If I want to tell a bunch of people what I'm doing, I just update my Facebook status.  Also, I can't see myself "following" any celebrity tweeters.  To me, that seems more than a little voyeuristic.

My good friend Bonnie started up with Twitter, so I made a false start at using it, so I could follow her.  I think I signed up and that was as far as I got.

When I heard Pope Benedict had his own Twitter handle (that's what they're called, right?) I figured it was as good a time as any to give it another go.

I went to work that night and read about the vitriol which has been shot at His Holiness through his Twitter feed.  People who are understandably angry about the recent scandals surrounding church members, people who do not understand the Church and how it works in the world, and people who just hate religion in general have been taking their anger out on the Holy Father's Twitter feed since he opened it.

This gave me pause.  I have stopped reading people's comments on news stories about religion in general and especially the Catholic Church.  Many people seem to find it "safe" in some way to sit behind their computer screens and spout falsehoods about Church teachings, fire angry messages about the scandals, or just bash religion.  These comments have always been difficult to read and are even more so when directed at a figure I hold so dearly as Pope Benedict.

But of course, this is exactly why we should all now create Twitter accounts.  It is upon us to surround the Holy Father virtually with love and support.  For every angry, deprecatory, or hateful comment he receives we should be there with messages of hope, support, grace, and love.  There are over a billion of us, I'm sure if we all work together, we can beat back the tide of anger and malice that surrounds His Holiness online.

So, I went to Twitter again.  I started following Bonnie.  Then I looked for the Pope's pages and realized I had no idea how to operate the site and ended up not leaving a message because I couldn't figure it out.

I'll try again later.